Non-Public Wireless Communication Networks

ABSTRACT

A mobile device (UE) may access standalone non-public networks (SNPNs) in various different locations as equivalent SNPNs (eSNPNs) corresponding to a home SNPN of the device. The device may obtain a list of eSNPNs corresponding to the home SNPN, and may access a second SNPN at a location different from a location of the home SNPN, in response to identifying the second SNPN and the list including the second SNPN as an eSNPN corresponding to the home SNPN of the device. The eSNPNs may include roaming eSNPNs (ReSNPNs) for accessing an enterprise NPN globally and/or at various different locations. The eSNPN/ReSNPN list may be maintained in a new network identifier management function (NMF). NPNs may be implemented as network slice instances (NSIs) via identifying data in the single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI). Multiple credentialed SNPNs of a UE may be prioritized for access by the UE.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 62/956,472 titled “Non-Public WirelessCommunication Networks”, filed on Jan. 2, 2020, which is herebyincorporated by reference as though fully and completely set forthherein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present application relates to wireless communications, includingproviding support in mobile devices for access to and communication overnon-public wireless communication networks, also referred to as privatenetworks.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. In recentyears, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers havebecome increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephonecalls, many mobile devices (i.e., user equipment devices or UEs) nowprovide access to the internet, email, text messaging, and navigationusing the global positioning system (GPS), and are capable of operatingsophisticated applications that utilize these functionalities.Additionally, there exist numerous different wireless communicationtechnologies and standards. Some examples of wireless communicationstandards include GSM, UMTS (WCDMA, TDS-CDMA), LTE, LTE Advanced(LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), BLUETOOTH™, etc. A nexttelecommunications standard moving beyond the current InternationalMobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT-Advanced) Standards is called5th generation mobile networks or 5th generation wireless systems,referred to as 3GPP NR (otherwise known as 5G-NR for 5G New Radio, alsosimply referred to as NR). NR proposes a higher capacity for a higherdensity of mobile broadband users, also supporting device-to-device,ultra-reliable, and massive machine communications, as well as lowerlatency and lower battery consumption, than current LTE standards.

One aspect of cellular communication systems involves communicating overlicensed and unlicensed spectrum in respective networks operated bymajor service providers and lower tier providers, respectively.Improvements in the field are desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments are presented herein of, inter alia, of methods andprocedures for various devices, e.g. wireless communication devices, toconnect to and communicate over private cellular networks, e.g. LTEand/or NR networks, and achieve seamlessly mobility between variouswireless communication systems that include private LTE/NR networks.Embodiments are further presented herein for wireless communicationsystems containing wireless communication devices (UEs) and/or basestations and access points (APs) communicating with each other withinthe wireless communication systems.

Pursuant to the above a UE may be operated to have access to standalonenon-public networks (SNPNs) in various different locations as equivalentSNPNs (eSNPNs) which are considered by the UE to be equivalent to a homeSNPN of the UE. The UE may obtain a list of eSNPNs corresponding to thehome SNPN (e.g., a list of SNPNs considered equivalent to the home SNPNof the UE), and may access a second SNPN at a location different from alocation of the home SNPN at least in response to identifying the secondSNPN, and further in response to the eSNPN list including the secondSNPN as an eSNPN of the home SNPN. The eSNPNs may include roaming eSNPNs(ReSNPNs) for accessing an enterprise NPN globally and/or at variousdifferent locations. The eSNPN/ReSNPN list may be maintained in a newnetwork identifier management function (NMF). Of the core networkfunctions, the application function (AF) and access and mobilitymanagement function (AMF) may access and communicate with the NMF tomanage, update, and provide the eSNPN/ReSNPN list to the UE. NPNs mayalso be implemented as network slice instances (NSIs) through the use ofnew values in the single network slice selection assistance information(S-NSSAI). Multiple SNPNs for which the UE has credentials may beprioritized for access by the UE.

Note that the techniques described herein may be implemented in and/orused with a number of different types of devices, including but notlimited to, base stations, access points, cellular phones, portablemedia players, tablet computers, wearable devices, and various othercomputing devices.

This Summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of thesubject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that the above-described features are merely examples andshould not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subjectmatter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparentfrom the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communicationsystem, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary base station in communication with anexemplary wireless user equipment (UE) device, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a UE, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a base station,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary simplified block diagram illustrative ofcellular communication circuitry, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system providingcellular and Wi-Fi coverage, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless network architecture with anetwork identification management function (NMF), according to someembodiments;

FIG. 8 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless network architecture with asingle NMF, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 9 is a diagram of an exemplary wireless network architecture withmultiple NMFs, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 10 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary procedure for updating awireless communication device (UE) with an eSNPN list, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 11 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary procedure for adding a newSNPN to an eSNPN list maintained by an NMF, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 12 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary procedure for deleting anSNPN from an eSNPN list maintained by an NMF, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 13 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary onboarding procedure usingan NMF, according to some embodiments; and

FIG. 14 shows a table listing exemplary service operations that may beprovided by an NMF, according to some embodiments.

While features described herein are susceptible to various modificationsand alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should beunderstood, however, that the drawings and detailed description theretoare not intended to be limiting to the particular form disclosed, but onthe contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalentsand alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subjectmatter as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS Acronyms

Various acronyms are used throughout the present application.Definitions of the most prominently used acronyms that may appearthroughout the present application are provided below:

AF: Application Function

AMF: Access and Mobility Management Function

AMR: Adaptive Multi-Rate

AP: Access Point

APN: Access Point Name

APR: Applications Processor

BS: Base Station

BSSID: Basic Service Set Identifier

CBRS: Citizens Broadband Radio Service

CBSD: Citizens Broadband Radio Service Device

CCA: Clear Channel Assessment

CMR: Change Mode Request

CS: Circuit Switched

DL: Downlink (from BS to UE)

DN: Data Network

DSDS: Dual SIM Dual Standby

DYN: Dynamic

EDCF: Enhanced Distributed Coordination Function

eSNPN: Equivalent Standalone Non-Public Network

FDD: Frequency Division Duplexing

FT: Frame Type

GAA: General Authorized Access

GPRS: General Packet Radio Service

GSM: Global System for Mobile Communication

GTP: GPRS Tunneling Protocol

HPLMN: Home Public Land Mobile Network

IMS: Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem

IOT: Internet of Things

IP: Internet Protocol

LAN: Local Area Network

LBT: Listen Before Talk

LQM: Link Quality Metric

LTE: Long Term Evolution

MCC: Mobile Country Code

MNO: Mobile Network Operator

NAS: Non-Access Stratum

NF: Network Function

NG-RAN: Next Generation Radio Access Network

NID: Network Identifier

NMF: Network Identifier Management Function

NPN: Non-Public (cellular) Network

NRF: Network Repository Function

NSI: Network Slice Instance

NSSAI: Network Slice Selection Assistance Information

PAL: Priority Access Licensee

PDCP: Packet Data Convergence Protocol

PDN: Packet Data Network

PDU: Protocol Data Unit

PGW: PDN Gateway

PLMN: Public Land Mobile Network

PSS: Primary Synchronization Signal

PT: Payload Type

QBSS: Quality of Service Enhanced Basic Service Set

QI: Quality Indicator

RA: Registration Accept

RAT: Radio Access Technology

RF: Radio Frequency

ROHC: Robust Header Compression

RR: Registration Request

RTP: Real-time Transport Protocol

RX: Reception/Receive

SAS: Spectrum Allocation Server

SD: Slice Descriptor

SI: System Information

SIB: System Information Block

SID: System Identification Number

SIM: Subscriber Identity Module

SGW: Serving Gateway

SMF: Session Management Function

SNPN: Standalone Non-Public Network

SSS: Secondary Synchronization Signal

SUPI: Subscription Permanent Identifier

TBS: Transport Block Size

TCP: Transmission Control Protocol

TDD: Time Division Duplexing

TX: Transmission/Transmit

UAC: Unified Access Control

UDM: Unified Data Management

UDR: User Data Repository

UE: User Equipment

UI: User Input

UL: Uplink (from UE to BS)

UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunication System

UPF: User Plane Function

URM: Universal Resources Management

URSP: UE Route Selection Policy

USIM: User Subscriber Identity Module

Wi-Fi: Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) RAT based on the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standards

WLAN: Wireless LAN

Terms

The following is a glossary of terms that may appear in the presentapplication:

Memory Medium—Any of various types of memory devices or storage devices.The term “memory medium” is intended to include an installation medium,e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; a computer system memoryor random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, RambusRAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash, magnetic media, e.g.,a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, or other similar types ofmemory elements, etc. The memory medium may comprise other types ofmemory as well or combinations thereof. In addition, the memory mediummay be located in a first computer system in which the programs areexecuted, or may be located in a second different computer system whichconnects to the first computer system over a network, such as theInternet. In the latter instance, the second computer system may provideprogram instructions to the first computer system for execution. Theterm “memory medium” may include two or more memory mediums which mayreside in different locations, e.g., in different computer systems thatare connected over a network. The memory medium may store programinstructions (e.g., embodied as computer programs) that may be executedby one or more processors.

Carrier Medium—a memory medium as described above, as well as a physicaltransmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or other physicaltransmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Programmable Hardware Element—Includes various hardware devicescomprising multiple programmable function blocks connected via aprogrammable interconnect. Examples include FPGAs (Field ProgrammableGate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (FieldProgrammable Object Arrays), and CPLDs (Complex PLDs). The programmablefunction blocks may range from fine grained (combinatorial logic or lookup tables) to coarse grained (arithmetic logic units or processorcores). A programmable hardware element may also be referred to as“reconfigurable logic”.

Computer System (or Computer)—any of various types of computing orprocessing systems, including a personal computer system (PC), mainframecomputer system, workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance,personal digital assistant (PDA), television system, grid computingsystem, or other device or combinations of devices. In general, the term“computer system” may be broadly defined to encompass any device (orcombination of devices) having at least one processor that executesinstructions from a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or “UE Device”)—any of various types of computersystems devices which perform wireless communications. Also referred toas wireless communication devices, many of which may be mobile and/orportable. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones or smartphones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones) and tablet computers suchas iPad™, Samsung Galaxy™, etc., gaming devices (e.g. Sony PlayStation™,Microsoft XBox™, etc.), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS™,PlayStation Portable™, Gameboy Advance™, iPod™), laptops, wearabledevices (e.g. Apple Watch™, Google Glass™), PDAs, portable Internetdevices, music players, data storage devices, or other handheld devices,unmanned aerial vehicles (e.g., drones) and unmanned aerial controllers,etc. Various other types of devices would fall into this category ifthey include Wi-Fi or both cellular and Wi-Fi communication capabilitiesand/or other wireless communication capabilities, for example overshort-range radio access technologies (SRATs) such as BLUETOOTH™, etc.In general, the term “UE” or “UE device” may be broadly defined toencompass any electronic, computing, and/or telecommunications device(or combination of devices) which is capable of wireless communicationand may also be portable/mobile.

Wireless Device (or wireless communication device)—any of various typesof computer systems devices which performs wireless communications usingWLAN communications, SRAT communications, Wi-Fi communications and thelike. As used herein, the term “wireless device” may refer to a UEdevice, as defined above, or to a stationary device, such as astationary wireless client or a wireless base station. For example awireless device may be any type of wireless station of an 802.11 system,such as an access point (AP) or a client station (UE), or any type ofwireless station of a cellular communication system communicatingaccording to a cellular radio access technology (e.g. 5G NR, LTE, CDMA,GSM), such as a base station or a cellular telephone, for example.

Communication Device—any of various types of computer systems or devicesthat perform communications, where the communications can be wired orwireless. A communication device can be portable (or mobile) or may bestationary or fixed at a certain location. A wireless device is anexample of a communication device. A UE is another example of acommunication device.

Base Station (BS)—The term “Base Station” has the full breadth of itsordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication stationinstalled at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of awireless telephone system or radio system.

Processor—refers to various elements (e.g. circuits) or combinations ofelements that are capable of performing a function in a device, e.g. ina user equipment device or in a cellular network device. Processors mayinclude, for example: general purpose processors and associated memory,portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processorcores or processing circuit cores, processing circuit arrays orprocessor arrays, circuits such as ASICs (Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits), programmable hardware elements such as a fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA), as well as any of various combinationsof the above.

Channel—a medium used to convey information from a sender (transmitter)to a receiver. It should be noted that since characteristics of the term“channel” may differ according to different wireless protocols, the term“channel” as used herein may be considered as being used in a mannerthat is consistent with the standard of the type of device withreference to which the term is used. In some standards, channel widthsmay be variable (e.g., depending on device capability, band conditions,etc.). For example, LTE may support scalable channel bandwidths from 1.4MHz to 20 MHz. In contrast, WLAN channels may be 22 MHz wide whileBluetooth channels may be 1 Mhz wide. Other protocols and standards mayinclude different definitions of channels. Furthermore, some standardsmay define and use multiple types of channels, e.g., different channelsfor uplink or downlink and/or different channels for different uses suchas data, control information, etc.

Band (or Frequency Band)—The term “band” has the full breadth of itsordinary meaning, and at least includes a section of spectrum (e.g.,radio frequency spectrum) in which channels are used or set aside forthe same purpose. Furthermore, “frequency band” is used to denote anyinterval in the frequency domain, delimited by a lower frequency and anupper frequency. The term may refer to a radio band or an interval ofsome other spectrum. A radio communications signal may occupy a range offrequencies over which (or where) the signal is carried. Such afrequency range is also referred to as the bandwidth of the signal.Thus, bandwidth refers to the difference between the upper frequency andlower frequency in a continuous band of frequencies. A frequency bandmay represent one communication channel or it may be subdivided intomultiple communication channels. Allocation of radio frequency ranges todifferent uses is a major function of radio spectrum allocation.

Wi-Fi—The term “Wi-Fi” has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, andat least includes a wireless communication network or RAT that isserviced by wireless LAN (WLAN) access points and which providesconnectivity through these access points to the Internet. Most modernWi-Fi networks (or WLAN networks) are based on IEEE 802.11 standards andare marketed under the name “Wi-Fi”. A Wi-Fi (WLAN) network is differentfrom a cellular network.

Automatically—refers to an action or operation performed by a computersystem (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g.,circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without userinput directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thusthe term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manuallyperformed or specified by the user, where the user provides input todirectly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiatedby input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that areperformed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are notperformed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform.For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting eachfield and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typinginformation, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is fillingout the form manually, even though the computer system must update theform in response to the user actions. The form may be automaticallyfilled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g.,software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of theform and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answersto the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automaticfilling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of theform (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields butrather they are being automatically completed). The presentspecification provides various examples of operations beingautomatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

Approximately—refers to a value that is almost correct or exact. Forexample, approximately may refer to a value that is within 1 to 10percent of the exact (or desired) value. It should be noted, however,that the actual threshold value (or tolerance) may be applicationdependent. For example, in some aspects, “approximately” may mean within0.1% of some specified or desired value, while in various other aspects,the threshold may be, for example, 2%, 3%, 5%, and so forth, as desiredor as required by the particular application.

Concurrent—refers to parallel execution or performance, where tasks,processes, or programs are performed in an at least partiallyoverlapping manner. For example, concurrency may be implemented using“strong” or strict parallelism, where tasks are performed (at leastpartially) in parallel on respective computational elements, or using“weak parallelism”, where the tasks are performed in an interleavedmanner, e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads.

Station (STA)—The term “station” herein refers to any device that hasthe capability of communicating wirelessly, e.g. by using the 802.11protocol. A station may be a laptop, a desktop PC, PDA, access point orWi-Fi phone or any type of device similar to a UE. An STA may be fixed,mobile, portable or wearable. Generally in wireless networkingterminology, a station (STA) broadly encompasses any device withwireless communication capabilities, and the terms station (STA),wireless client (UE) and node (BS) are therefore often usedinterchangeably.

Configured to—Various components may be described as “configured to”perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broadrecitation generally meaning “having structure that” performs the taskor tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured toperform the task even when the component is not currently performingthat task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors may be configured toelectrically connect a module to another module, even when the twomodules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be abroad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that”performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component canbe configured to perform the task even when the component is notcurrently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structurecorresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits.

Transmission Scheduling—Refers to the scheduling of transmissions, suchas wireless transmissions. In some implementations of cellular radiocommunications, signal and data transmissions may be organized accordingto designated time units of specific duration during which transmissionstake place. As used herein, the term “slot” has the full extent of itsordinary meaning, and at least refers to a smallest (or minimum)scheduling time unit in wireless communications. For example, in 3GPPLTE, transmissions are divided into radio frames, each radio frame beingof equal (time) duration (e.g. 10 ms). A radio frame in 3GPP LTE may befurther divided into a specified number of (e.g. ten) subframes, eachsubframe being of equal time duration, with the subframes designated asthe smallest (minimum) scheduling unit, or the designated time unit fora transmission. Thus, in a 3GPP LTE example, a “subframe” may beconsidered an example of a “slot” as defined above. Similarly, asmallest (or minimum) scheduling time unit for 5G NR (or NR, for short)transmissions is referred to as a “slot”. In different communicationprotocols the smallest (or minimum) scheduling time unit may also benamed differently.

Resources—The term “resource” has the full extent of its ordinarymeaning and may refer to frequency resources and time resources usedduring wireless communications. As used herein, a resource element (RE)refers to a specific amount or quantity of a resource. For example, inthe context of a time resource, a resource element may be a time periodof specific length. In the context of a frequency resource, a resourceelement may be a specific frequency bandwidth, or a specific amount offrequency bandwidth, which may be centered on a specific frequency. Asone specific example, a resource element may refer to a resource unit of1 symbol (in reference to a time resource, e.g. a time period ofspecific length) per 1 subcarrier (in reference to a frequency resource,e.g. a specific frequency bandwidth, which may be centered on a specificfrequency). A resource element group (REG) has the full extent of itsordinary meaning and at least refers to a specified number ofconsecutive resource elements. In some implementations, a resourceelement group may not include resource elements reserved for referencesignals. A control channel element (CCE) refers to a group of aspecified number of consecutive REGs. A resource block (RB) refers to aspecified number of resource elements made up of a specified number ofsubcarriers per specified number of symbols. Each RB may include aspecified number of subcarriers. A resource block group (RBG) refers toa unit including multiple RBs. The number of RBs within one RBG maydiffer depending on the system bandwidth.

Bandwidth Part (BWP)—A carrier bandwidth part (BWP) is a contiguous setof physical resource blocks selected from a contiguous subset of thecommon resource blocks for a given numerology on a given carrier. Fordownlink, a UE may be configured with up to a specified number ofcarrier BWPs (e.g. four BWPs, per some specifications), with one BWP percarrier active at a given time (per some specifications). For uplink,the UE may similarly be configured with up to several (e.g. four)carrier BWPs, with one BWP per carrier active at a given time (per somespecifications). If a UE is configured with a supplementary uplink, thenthe UE may be additionally configured with up to the specified number(e.g. four) carrier BWPs in the supplementary uplink, with one carrierBWP active at a given time (per some specifications).

Multi-cell Arrangements—A Master node is defined as a node (radio accessnode) that provides control plane connection to the core network in caseof multi radio dual connectivity (MR-DC). A master node may be a mastereNB (3GPP LTE) or a master gNB (3GPP NR), for example. A secondary nodeis defined as a radio access node with no control plane connection tothe core network, providing additional resources to the UE in case ofMR-DC. A Master Cell group (MCG) is defined as a group of serving cellsassociated with the Master Node, including the primary cell (PCell) andoptionally one or more secondary cells (SCell). A Secondary Cell group(SCG) is defined as a group of serving cells associated with theSecondary Node, including a special cell, namely a primary cell of theSCG (PSCell), and optionally including one or more SCells. A UE maytypically apply radio link monitoring to the PCell. If the UE isconfigured with an SCG then the UE may also apply radio link monitoringto the PSCell. Radio link monitoring is generally applied to the activeBWPs and the UE is not required to monitor inactive BWPs. The PCell isused to initiate initial access, and the UE may communicate with thePCell and the SCell via Carrier Aggregation (CA). Currently Amendedcapability means a UE may receive and/or transmit to and/or frommultiple cells. The UE initially connects to the PCell, and one or moreSCells may be configured for the UE once the UE is in a connected state.

Core Network (CN)—Core network is defined as a part of a 3GPP systemwhich is independent of the connection technology (e.g. the Radio AccessTechnology, RAT) of the UEs. The UEs may connect to the core network viaa radio access network, RAN, which may be RAT-specific.

Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, forconvenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpretedas including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that isconfigured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not toinvoke 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph six, interpretation for thatcomponent.

FIGS. 1 and 2—Exemplary Communication Systems

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communicationsystem, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the system ofFIG. 1 is merely one example of a possible system, and embodiments maybe implemented in any of various systems, as desired.

As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes basestations 102A through 102N, also collectively referred to as basestation(s) 102 or base station 102. As shown in FIG. 1, base station102A communicates over a transmission medium with one or more userdevices 106A through 106N. Each of the user devices may be referred toherein as a “user equipment” (UE) or UE device. Thus, the user devices106A through 106N are referred to as UEs or UE devices, and are alsocollectively referred to as UE(s) 106 or UE 106. Various ones of the UEdevices may operate to recognize and communicate over private LTE/NRnetworks, with the capacity to effectively move between various wirelesscommunication systems that include private LTE/NR networks, and operateon those networks according to various aspects disclosed herein.

The base station 102A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cellsite, and may include hardware that enables wireless communication withthe UEs 106A through 106N. The base station 102A may also be equipped tocommunicate with a network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellularservice provider, a telecommunication network such as a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN), and/or the Internet, neutral host or variousCBRS (Citizens Broadband Radio Service) deployments, among variouspossibilities). Thus, the base station 102A may facilitate communicationbetween the user devices 106 and/or between the user devices 106 and thenetwork 100. In particular, the cellular base station 102A may provideUEs 106 with various telecommunication capabilities, such as voice,short message service (SMS) and/or data services. The communication area(or coverage area) of the base station 106 may be referred to as a“cell.” It is noted that “cell” may also refer to a logical identity fora given wireless communication coverage area at a given frequency. Ingeneral, any independent cellular wireless coverage area may be referredto as a “cell”. In such cases a base station may be situated atparticular confluences of three cells. The base station, in this uniformtopology, may serve three 120 degree beam width areas referenced ascells. Also, in case of carrier aggregation, small cells, relays, etc.may each represent a cell. Thus, in carrier aggregation in particular,there may be primary cells and secondary cells which may service atleast partially overlapping coverage areas but on different respectivefrequencies. For example, a base station may serve any number of cells,and cells served by a base station may or may not be collocated (e.g.remote radio heads). As also used herein, from the perspective of UEs, abase station may sometimes be considered as representing the networkinsofar as uplink and downlink communications of the UE are concerned.Thus, a UE communicating with one or more base stations in the networkmay also be interpreted as the UE communicating with the network, andmay further also be considered at least a part of the UE communicatingon the network or over the network.

The base station(s) 102 and the user devices 106 may be configured tocommunicate over the transmission medium using any of various radioaccess technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless communicationtechnologies, or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA),LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LAA/LTE-U, 5G-NR (NR, for short), 3GPP2CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), Wi-Fi, WiMAX etc. Notethat if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of LTE, itmay alternately be referred to as an ‘eNodeB’ or ‘eNB’. Similarly, ifthe base station 102A is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it mayalternately be referred to as ‘gNodeB’ or ‘gNB’. In some embodiments,the base station 102 (e.g. an eNB in an LTE network or a gNB in an NRnetwork) may communicate with at least one UE having the capability torecognize and communicate over private LTE/NR networks, with thecapacity to effectively move between various wireless communicationsystems that include private LTE/NR networks, and operate on thosenetworks according to various aspects disclosed herein. Depending on agiven application or specific considerations, for convenience some ofthe various different RATs may be functionally grouped according to anoverall defining characteristic. For example, all cellular RATs may becollectively considered as representative of a first (form/type of) RAT,while Wi-Fi communications may be considered as representative of asecond RAT. In other cases, individual cellular RATs may be consideredindividually as different RATs. For example, when differentiatingbetween cellular communications and Wi-Fi communications, “first RAT”may collectively refer to all cellular RATs under consideration, while“second RAT” may refer to Wi-Fi. Similarly, when applicable, differentforms of Wi-Fi communications (e.g. over 2.4 GHz vs. over 5 GHz) may beconsidered as corresponding to different RATs. Furthermore, cellularcommunications performed according to a given RAT (e.g. LTE or NR) maybe differentiated from each other on the basis of the frequency spectrumin which those communications are conducted. For example, LTE or NRcommunications may be performed over a primary licensed spectrum as wellas over a secondary spectrum such as an unlicensed spectrum and/orspectrum that was assigned to private networks. Overall, the use ofvarious terms and expressions will always be clearly indicated withrespect to and within the context of the variousapplications/embodiments under consideration.

As shown, the base station 102A may also be equipped to communicate witha network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, atelecommunication network such as a public switched telephone network(PSTN), and/or the Internet, among various possibilities). Thus, thebase station 102A may facilitate communication between the user devices106 and/or between the user devices 106 and the network 100. Inparticular, the cellular base station 102A may provide UEs 106 withvarious telecommunication capabilities, such as voice, SMS and/or dataservices. UE 106 may be capable of communicating using multiple wirelesscommunication standards. For example, a UE 106 might be configured tocommunicate using any or all of a 3GPP cellular communication standard(such as LTE or NR) or a 3GPP2 cellular communication standard (such asa cellular communication standard in the CDMA2000 family of cellularcommunication standards). Base station 102A and other similar basestations (such as base stations 102B . . . 102N) operating according tothe same or a different cellular communication standard may thus beprovided as one or more networks of cells, which may provide continuousor nearly continuous overlapping service to UE 106 and similar devicesover a wide geographic area via one or more cellular communicationstandards.

Thus, while base station 102A may act as a “serving cell” for UEs106A-106N as illustrated in FIG. 1, each one of UE(s) 106 may also becapable of receiving signals from (and may possibly be withincommunication range of) one or more other cells (possibly provided bybase stations 102B-102N and/or any other base stations), which may bereferred to as “neighboring cells”. Such cells may also be capable offacilitating communication in-between user devices 106 and/or betweenuser devices 106 and the network 100. Such cells may include “macro”cells, “micro” cells, “pico” cells, and/or cells which provide any ofvarious other granularities of service area size. For example, basestations 102A-102B illustrated in FIG. 1 may be macro cells, while basestation 102N may be a micro cell. Other configurations are alsopossible.

In some embodiments, base station 102A may be a next generation basestation, e.g., a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or “gNB”. In someembodiments, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core(EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC) network. In addition, a gNB cellmay include one or more transmission and reception points (TRPs). Inaddition, a UE capable of operating according to 5G NR may be connectedto one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

The UE 106 might also or alternatively be configured to communicateusing WLAN, BLUETOOTH™, BLUETOOTH™ Low-Energy, one or more globalnavigational satellite systems (GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one and/ormore mobile television broadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H or DVB-H),etc. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (includingmore than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.Furthermore, the UE 106 may also communicate with Network 100, throughone or more base stations or through other devices, stations, or anyappliances not explicitly shown but considered to be part of Network100. UE 106 communicating with a network may therefore be interpreted asthe UE(s) 106 communicating with one or more network nodes considered tobe a part of the network and which may interact with the UE(s) 106 toconduct communications with the UE(s) 106 and in some cases affect atleast some of the communication parameters and/or use of communicationresources of the UE(s) 106.

As also illustrated in FIG. 1, at least some of the UEs, e.g. UEs 106Dand 106E may represent vehicles communicating with each other and withbase station 102, e.g. via cellular communications such as 3GPP LTEand/or 5G-NR communications, for example. In addition, UE 106F mayrepresent a pedestrian who is communicating and/or interacting in asimilar manner with the vehicles represented by UEs 106D and 106E.Various aspects of vehicles communicating in a network exemplified inFIG. 1 are disclosed, for example, in the context ofvehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications such as the communicationsspecified by certain versions of the 3GPP standard, among others.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary user equipment 106 (e.g., one of UEs106A through 106N) in communication with the base station 122 and anaccess point 112, according to some embodiments. The UE 106 may be adevice with both cellular communication capability and non-cellularcommunication capability (e.g., BLUETOOTH™, Wi-Fi, and so forth) such asa mobile phone, a hand-held device, a computer or a tablet, or virtuallyany type of wireless device. The UE 106 may include a processor that isconfigured to execute program instructions stored in memory. The UE 106may perform any of the method embodiments described herein by executingsuch stored instructions. Alternatively, or in addition, the UE 106 mayinclude a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA(field-programmable gate array) that is configured to perform any of themethod embodiments described herein, or any portion of any of the methodembodiments described herein. The UE 106 may be configured tocommunicate using any of multiple wireless communication protocols. Forexample, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using two or moreof CDMA2000, LTE, LTE-A, NR, WLAN, or GNSS. Other combinations ofwireless communication standards are also possible.

The UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using oneor more wireless communication protocols according to one or more RATstandards, e.g. those previously mentioned above. In some embodiments,the UE 106 may share one or more parts of a receive chain and/ortransmit chain between multiple wireless communication standards. Theshared radio may include a single antenna, or may include multipleantennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications.Alternatively, the UE 106 may include separate transmit and/or receivechains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components)for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured tocommunicate. As another alternative, the UE 106 may include one or moreradios or radio circuitry which are shared between multiple wirelesscommunication protocols, and one or more radios which are usedexclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example,the UE 106 may include radio circuitries for communicating using eitherof LTE or CDMA2000 1×RTT or NR, and separate radios for communicatingusing each of Wi-Fi and BLUETOOTH™. Other configurations are alsopossible.

FIG. 3—Block Diagram of an Exemplary UE

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary UE 106, according tosome aspects. As shown, the UE 106 may include a system on chip (SOC)300, which may include various elements/components for various purposes.For example, as shown, the SOC 300 may include processor(s) 302 whichmay execute program instructions for the UE 106 and display circuitry304 which may perform graphics processing and provide display signals tothe display 360. The processor(s) 302 may also be coupled to memorymanagement unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receive addressesfrom the processor(s) 302 and translate those addresses to locations inmemory (e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM) 350, NAND flash memory310) and/or to other circuits or devices, such as the display circuitry304, radio circuitry 330, connector I/F 320, and/or display 360. The MMU340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page tabletranslation or set up. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may be includedas a portion of the processor(s) 302.

As shown, the SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of the UE106. For example, the UE 106 may include various types of memory (e.g.,including NAND flash 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., for couplingto the computer system), the display 360, and wireless communicationcircuitry (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, CDMA2000, BLUETOOTH™, Wi-Fi, GPS,etc.). The UE device 106 may include at least one antenna (e.g. 335 a),and possibly multiple antennas (e.g. illustrated by antennas 335 a and335 b), for performing wireless communication with base stations and/orother devices. Antennas 335 a and 335 b are shown by way of example, andUE device 106 may include fewer or more antennas. Overall, the one ormore antennas are collectively referred to as antenna(s) 335. Forexample, the UE device 106 may use antenna(s) 335 to perform thewireless communication with the aid of radio circuitry 330. As notedabove, the UE may be configured to communicate wirelessly using multiplewireless communication standards in some embodiments.

As further described herein, the UE 106 (and/or base station 102) mayinclude hardware and software components for implementing methods for atleast UE 106 to recognize and communicate over private LTE/NR networks,with the capacity to effectively move between various wirelesscommunication systems that include private LTE/NR networks, and operateon those networks according to various aspects disclosed herein. Thus,in some embodiments, UE 106 may use, among others, informationindicative of private cellular networks, to potentially connect toprivate networks, and switch from operating on public cellular networksto operating on private cellular networks and vice-versa. Theprocessor(s) 302 of the UE device 106 may be configured to implementpart or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by executing programinstructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory medium). In other embodiments, processor(s) 302may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA(Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit). Furthermore, processor(s) 302 may be coupled toand/or may interoperate with other components as shown in FIG. 3, toimplement communications by UE 106 that incorporate recognizing andcommunicating over private LTE/NR networks, with the capacity toeffectively move between various wireless communication systems thatinclude private LTE/NR networks, and operating on those networksaccording to various aspects disclosed herein. Specifically,processor(s) 302 may be coupled to and/or may interoperate with othercomponents as shown in FIG. 3 to facilitate UE 106 communicating in amanner that seeks to optimize RAT selection. Processor(s) 302 may alsoimplement various other applications and/or end-user applicationsrunning on UE 106.

In some embodiments, radio circuitry 330 may include separatecontrollers dedicated to controlling communications for variousrespective RATs and/or RAT standards. For example, as shown in FIG. 3,radio circuitry 330 may include a Wi-Fi controller 356, a cellularcontroller (e.g. LTE and/or NR controller) 352, and BLUETOOTH™controller 354, and according to at least some aspects, one or more orall of these controllers may be implemented as respective integratedcircuits (ICs or chips, for short) in communication with each other andwith SOC 300 (e.g. with processor(s) 302). For example, Wi-Fi controller356 may communicate with cellular controller 352 over a cell-ISM link orWCI interface, and/or BLUETOOTH™ controller 354 may communicate withcellular controller 352 over a cell-ISM link, etc. While three separatecontrollers are illustrated within radio circuitry 330, otherembodiments may have fewer or more similar controllers for variousdifferent RATs and/or RAT standards that may be implemented in UE device106. For example, at least one exemplary block diagram illustrative ofsome embodiments of cellular controller 352 is shown in FIG. 5 and willbe further described below.

FIG. 4—Block Diagram of an Exemplary Base Station

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary base station 102,according to some embodiments. It is noted that the base station of FIG.4 is merely one example of a possible base station. As shown, the basestation 102 may include processor(s) 404 which may execute programinstructions for the base station 102. The processor(s) 404 may also becoupled to memory management unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured toreceive addresses from the processor(s) 404 and translate thoseaddresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read only memory(ROM) 450) or to other circuits or devices.

The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Thenetwork port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network andprovide a plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106, access to thetelephone network as described above in FIGS. 1 and 2. The network port470 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively beconfigured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., a core network of acellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility relatedservices and/or other services to a plurality of devices, such as UEdevices 106. In some cases, the network port 470 may couple to atelephone network via the core network, and/or the core network mayprovide a telephone network (e.g., among other UE devices serviced bythe cellular service provider).

The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434 a, andpossibly multiple antennas (e.g. illustrated by antennas 434 a and 434b), for performing wireless communication with mobile devices and/orother devices. Antennas 434 a and 434 b are shown by way of example, andbase station 102 may include fewer or more antennas. Overall, the one ormore antennas, which may include antenna 434 a and/or antenna 434 b, arecollectively referred to as antenna 434 or antenna(s) 434. Antenna(s)434 may be configured to operate as a wireless transceiver and may befurther configured to communicate with UE devices 106 via radiocircuitry 430. The antenna(s) 434 communicates with the radio 430 viacommunication chain 432. Communication chain 432 may be a receive chain,a transmit chain or both. The radio circuitry 430 may be designed tocommunicate via various wireless telecommunication standards, including,but not limited to, LTE, LTE-A, 5G-NR (NR) WCDMA, CDMA2000, etc. Theprocessor(s) 404 of the base station 102 may be configured to implementpart or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by executing programinstructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory medium), for base station 102 to communicatewith a UE device capable of recognizing and communicating over privateLTE/NR networks, with the capacity to effectively move between variouswireless communication systems that include private LTE/NR networks, andoperating on those networks. Alternatively, the processor(s) 404 may beconfigured as a programmable hardware element(s), such as an FPGA (FieldProgrammable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific IntegratedCircuit), or a combination thereof. In the case of certain RATs, forexample Wi-Fi, base station 102 may be designed as an access point (AP),in which case network port 470 may be implemented to provide access to awide area network and/or local area network (s), e.g. it may include atleast one Ethernet port, and radio 430 may be designed to communicateaccording to the Wi-Fi standard. Base station 102 may operate accordingto the various methods as disclosed herein for communicating with mobiledevices that recognize and communicate over private LTE/NR networks andhave the capacity to effectively move between various wirelesscommunication systems that include private LTE/NR networks and operateon those networks according to various embodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 5—Exemplary Cellular Communication Circuitry

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary simplified block diagram illustrative ofcellular controller 352, according to some embodiments. It is noted thatthe block diagram of the cellular communication circuitry of FIG. 5 isonly one example of a possible cellular communication circuit; othercircuits, such as circuits including or coupled to sufficient antennasfor different RATs to perform uplink activities using separate antennas,or circuits including or coupled to fewer antennas, e.g., that may beshared among multiple RATs, are also possible. According to someembodiments, cellular communication circuitry 352 may be included in acommunication device, such as communication device 106 described above.As noted above, communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE)device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wirelessstation, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computingdevice (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), atablet and/or a combination of devices, among other devices.

The cellular communication circuitry 352 may couple (e.g.,communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, suchas antennas 335 a-b and 336 as shown. In some embodiments, cellularcommunication circuitry 352 may include dedicated receive chains(including and/or coupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly orindirectly) dedicated processors and/or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g.,a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). Forexample, as shown in FIG. 5, cellular communication circuitry 352 mayinclude a first modem 510 and a second modem 520. The first modem 510may be configured for communications according to a first RAT, e.g.,such as LTE or LTE-A, and the second modem 520 may be configured forcommunications according to a second RAT, e.g., such as 5G NR.

As shown, the first modem 510 may include one or more processors 512 anda memory 516 in communication with processors 512. Modem 510 may be incommunication with a radio frequency (RF) front end 530. RF front end530 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals.For example, RF front end 530 may include receive circuitry (RX) 532 andtransmit circuitry (TX) 534. In some embodiments, receive circuitry 532may be in communication with downlink (DL) front end 550, which mayinclude circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335 a.

Similarly, the second modem 520 may include one or more processors 522and a memory 526 in communication with processors 522. Modem 520 may bein communication with an RF front end 540. RF front end 540 may includecircuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RFfront end 540 may include receive circuitry 542 and transmit circuitry544. In some embodiments, receive circuitry 542 may be in communicationwith DL front end 560, which may include circuitry for receiving radiosignals via antenna 335 b.

In some embodiments, a switch 570 may couple transmit circuitry 534 touplink (UL) front end 572. In addition, switch 570 may couple transmitcircuitry 544 to UL front end 572. UL front end 572 may includecircuitry for transmitting radio signals via antenna 336. Thus, whencellular communication circuitry 352 receives instructions to transmitaccording to the first RAT (e.g., as supported via the first modem 510),switch 570 may be switched to a first state that allows the first modem510 to transmit signals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmitchain that includes transmit circuitry 534 and UL front end 572).Similarly, when cellular communication circuitry 352 receivesinstructions to transmit according to the second RAT (e.g., as supportedvia the second modem 520), switch 570 may be switched to a second statethat allows the second modem 520 to transmit signals according to thesecond RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain that includes transmit circuitry544 and UL front end 572).

As described herein, the first modem 510 and/or the second modem 520 mayinclude hardware and software components for implementing any of thevarious features and techniques described herein. The processors 512,522 may be configured to implement part or all of the features describedherein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memorymedium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium).Alternatively (or in addition), processors 512, 522 may be configured asa programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field ProgrammableGate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).Alternatively (or in addition) the processors 512, 522, in conjunctionwith one or more of the other components 530, 532, 534, 540, 542, 544,550, 570, 572, 335 and 336 may be configured to implement part or all ofthe features described herein.

In addition, as described herein, processors 512, 522 may include one ormore components. Thus, processors 512, 522 may include one or moreintegrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functionsof processors 512, 522. In addition, each integrated circuit may includecircuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured toperform the functions of processors 512, 522.

In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 352 mayinclude only one transmit/receive chain. For example, the cellularcommunication circuitry 352 may not include the modem 520, the RF frontend 540, the DL front end 560, and/or the antenna 335 b. As anotherexample, the cellular communication circuitry 352 may not include themodem 510, the RF front end 530, the DL front end 550, and/or theantenna 335 a. In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry352 may also not include the switch 570, and the RF front end 530 or theRF front end 540 may be in communication, e.g., directly, with the ULfront end 572.

FIG. 6—Exemplary Communication System

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system 600 inwhich a device may communicate according to multiple radio accesstechnologies (RATs) using different respective radio circuits for eachRAT. System 600 is a system in which an LTE (or NR) access network and aWi-Fi radio access network are implemented. The system 600 may includeUE 106 and LTE (or NR) network 602 and Wi-Fi network 604.

LTE (or NR) access network 602 is representative of some embodiments ofa first RAT access and Wi-Fi access network 604 is representative ofsome embodiments of a second RAT access. LTE (or NR) access network 602may be interfaced with a broader cellular network (e.g. LTE or NR) andWi-Fi access network 604 may be interfaced with the Internet 612. Moreparticularly, LTE (or NR) access network 602 may be interfaced with aserving base station (BS) 606, which may in turn provide access tobroader cellular network 610. The Wi-Fi access network 604 may beinterfaced with an access point (AP) 608, which may in turn provideaccess to the Internet 612. UE 106 may accordingly access Internet 612via AP 608 and may access cellular network 610 via LTE access network602. In some embodiments, not shown, UE 106 may also access Internet 612via LTE (or NR) access network 602. More specifically, LTE (or NR)access network 602 may be interfaced with a serving gateway, which mayin turn be interfaced with a packet data network (PDN) gateway. The PDNgateway may, in turn, be interfaced with Internet 612. UE 106 mayaccordingly access Internet 612 via either or both of LTE (or NR) accessnetwork 602 and Wi-Fi access network 604. Accordingly, UE 106 mayconduct various communications, e.g. data transfers or audio voicecalls, via either or both of LTE (or NR) access network 602 and Wi-Fiaccess network 604. Furthermore, while FIG. 6 shows an LTE (or NR)access network, other cellular networks (not shown, e.g. a privatenetwork) may equally be accessed by UE 106 in a manner similar toaccessing LTE (or NR) access network 602.

Public and Non-Public (Private) Cellular Networks

The rapid spread and use of wireless communications has led to an everincreasing deployment of distributed antenna systems (DAS). For manyyears, auctioned licensed spectrum allocations statewide and nationwidewere exclusively acquired by Tier-1 cellular carriers as it proved tooexpensive for Tier-2/Tier-3 carriers and other potential localoperators. Tier-1 carriers were thereby able to use the allocatedspectrum as a strategic asset for 3GPP technologies, which has proven tobe a barrier preventing innovation in wireless services and also slowingdown service improvements. For example, deployment has been focused onTier-1 venues, leaving Tier-2/Tier-3 venues and indoor venues with poorcoverage. According to some estimates, approximately 30 billion squarefeet of commercial floor space in the United States experiences poorcellular coverage. Tier-2/Tier-3 network operators, enterprises, smallcommunities and venue owners have not been able to acquire spectrum thatwould allow them to improve the wireless coverage in Tier-2/Tier-3venues and indoor private buildings, which slows the densification andinstallation of small cells.

For at least the above reasons, the wireless industry as a whole hasbeen pursuing a variety of service delivery models designed to offsetthe high costs while ensuring reliable and profitable in-buildingcoverage and capacity. One particular solution that has received muchattention is the neutral host. A neutral host shifts the ownership ofthe system from a carrier to either a building owner, DAS integrator ora third-party system provider. Such private mobile networks are designedand deployed specifically for enterprise users to provide opportunitiesto optimize and redefine business processes in ways that are eitherimpractical or not possible within the limitations of wired and Wi-Finetworks. Under the neutral host model, the independent third-party(e.g. private or non-public) host assumes all financial, regulatory,legal and technical responsibility for deploying, installing andmaintaining the system. The host may lease space or access to the systemto one or more operators. The neutral host model provides a number ofattractive benefits, chief among them the increased number of providerswho are able and willing to help satisfy the growing demand in themarket. To facilitate the installation, reduce the cost, and simplifythe process and spread of effective neutral hosts, a new CitizensBroadband Radio Service (CBRS) for shared wireless broadband use of the3550-3700 MHz band (3.5 GHz Band) was established. CBRS providespotential benefits of indoor and outdoor cellular services, e.g. LTE/NRservices within a shared 3.5 GHz spectrum by opening up those bands forcommercial use such as carrier-based cellular service extensions andprivate LTE/NR networks within enterprises, sports stadiums andconference centers, among others. In other words, CBRS band(s) can beused by cellular networks to provide private LTE/NR and neutral hostnetworks (e.g. Wi-Fi Type deployments in buildings and enterprises)using LTE and/or 5G/NR small cells and networks.

The welcome addition of these new wireless services also raises newissues. Devices are expected to recognize and efficiently connect withand operate on these new wireless networks. In addition, improved devicemobility is required to allow devices to seamlessly move from operatingon one wireless service to operating on another wireless service.

As mentioned above, non-public (or private) cellular networks provide avariety of benefits next to public land mobile networks (PLMNs). PLMNrefers to mobile wireless networks that use earth-based stations ratherthan satellites. PLMNs may be standalone, but are also ofteninterconnected with a fixed system such as the public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN). A PLMN typically includes several cellular technologieslike GSM/2G, UMTS/3G, LTE/4G, and/or 5G/NR (to name just a few) offeredby a single operator within a given country, often referred to as acellular network. A PLMN is identified by a globally unique PLMN code,which includes a MCC (Mobile Country Code) and MNC (Mobile NetworkCode). The international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI; used inpre-5G/NR cellular technology), and subscription permanent identifier(SUPI; used in 5G/NR cellular technology) are numbers that uniquelyidentify every user of a pre-5G/NR and 5G NR cellular network,respectively.

Non-public cellular networks (NPNs) have been deployed in factories, forInternet of Things (IOT) devices, as enterprise information technology(IT) networks and the like. In some cases, NPNs are cellular networksspecific to an organization or a corporate entity, with content for thatentity hosted on private data networks. An NPN may typically be deployedas a standalone NPN (SNPN), which may be operated by an NPN operatorthat does not rely on network functions provided by a PLMN, or it may bedeployed as a public network integrated NPN, which may be a networkslice instance of a regular PLMN, for example. Wireless communicationdevices (UEs) may be classified based on access capability. Suchclassification may differentiate between UEs which are only authorizedto access an NPN or NPN services, UEs which are only authorized toaccess regular PLMN services, and UEs which may simultaneously accessboth NPN services as well as PLMN services. In case of 3GPP NR, as anexample. a UE may be configured with a SUPI and credentials for eachSNPN it is authorized to access. Emergency services are currently notsupported in SNPN access mode, but studies are being conducted regardingsupport enablement for emergency calls over NPN in the near future. Itshould be noted that a SUPI is a 5G/NR globally unique SubscriptionPermanent Identifier (SUPI) allocated to each subscriber and defined in3GPP specification TS 23.501. The SUPI value is provisioned in USIM andUnified Data Management (UDM)/Universal Resources Management (UDR)function in 5G Core, and is usually a string of 15 decimal digits.

When switched on, a UE typically begins searching for a network. Thereis a possibility that there are many networks or many frequencies fromdifferent network operators to which the UE may connect. Therefore, theUE needs to synchronize to each frequency and determine to which ofthose frequencies it will connect. The UE performs this by undergoing aninitial synchronization process. Once the UE has completed thesynchronization process, it begins to use system information toestablish wireless communications with(in) the network. Systeminformation includes the Master Information Block (MIB) and a number ofSystem Information Blocks (SIBs). The MIB is broadcast on the PhysicalBroadcast Channel (PBCH), while SIBs are sent on the Physical DownlinkShared Channel (PDSCH) through Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages(i.e. via RRC messaging/signaling). A System Information (SI) messagecan contain one or several SIBs.

Currently, SNPNs are identified using a network identifier (NID)specific to the SNPN. Accordingly, an SNPN is identified overall byusing a PLMN ID and an NID [PLMN ID+NID]. The network node (e.g. gNB)that provides access to the NPN may broadcast the PLMN ID and a list ofNIDs, which identify each unique NPN. The UE shall reselect to othercells which support this SNPN, e.g. to a cell identified by thebroadcasted [PLMN ID+NID]. As part of the registration process, the UEmay first camp on (connect to) the cell which supports the [PLMN ID+ND]combination identifying the network that the UE is seeking to access(e.g. the SNPN for which the UE has SUPI credentials). The UE thenperforms a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) registration procedure, through thecorresponding Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) and SessionManagement Function (SMF), with the SNPN. The Unified Access Control(UAC) is defined per NPN for access control management.

Equivalent SNPN (eSNPN)

In the current specification, an SNPN is a standalone network and doesnot have access or visibility to other peer SNPNs. Thus, a UE which hascredentials for a given SNPN may not be able to access other SNPNs, eventhough there may be reasons for the UE to access to those other SNPNs.However, in many cases, different private networks may be consideredpart of the same entity or enterprise. For example, a company, corporateentity, or educational entity may have different branches or locationsall identified by the same PLMN ID, with each branch/location having itsown deployed SNPN. Under certain scenarios it may be desirable toprovide a UE access to all the different branch/satellite SNPNs. As anexample, three universities may each have an SNPN, denoted by SNPN1,SNPN2, and SNPN3 in a region identified by the same PLMN ID, and theuniversities may also have shared resources to which students areprovided access. However, as each SNPN is a standalone network, a UEwhich has credentials for, say, SNPN1, would not have access to SNPN2and SNPN3. In order to solve this issue, according to some aspects,equivalent SNPNs (eSNPNs) may be established.

Accordingly, in order to improve ready access to desired SNPNs, anetwork (e.g. a base station in the network) may broadcast a list ofequivalent SNPN(s) (eSNPN(s)) corresponding to a given SNPN, if sucheSNPNs are available, to the UE. For example, the base station in thenetwork may broadcast such a list in an SIB. Upon receiving the SIB, theUE may save the list of eSNPNs in a local database. Referring to theexample above, the network may broadcast the following lists to the UE,depending on whether the UE's home SNPN is SNPN1, SNPN2, or SNPN3, whereNIDx (for x=1, 2, 3) represents the NID for the corresponding SNPNx.

Home SNPN is SNPN1

-   -   SNPN1=PLMN+NID1    -   eSNPN1=PLMN+NID2    -   eSNPN2=PLMN+NID3

Home SNPN is SNPN2

-   -   SNPN2=PLMN+NID2    -   eSNPN1=PLMN+NID1    -   eSNPN2=PLMN+NID3

Home SNPN is SNPN3

-   -   SNPN3=PLMN+NID3    -   eSNPN1=PLMN+NID1    -   eSNPN2=PLMN+NID2

When a UE associated with a given home SNPN, e.g. with SNPN1, is at alocation/branch where one of the other SNPNs is deployed, the UE maylose the access to its home SNPN and may start scanning all the SNPNnetworks in that location/region. The UE may gain access to the visitedSNPN as the visited SNPN has already been indicated to the UE as aneSNPN corresponding to its home SNPN. For example, for a UE having SNPN1as its home SNPN, eSNPN1 and eSNPN2 (as shown in the list above)represent SNPNs equivalent to or corresponding to SNPN1, hence they areeSNPNs for the UE and are accessible by the UE. In some embodiments, theorder in which the eSNPNs are broadcast (or listed) may also indicatethe recommended priority of the broadcasted (listed) eSNPNs. Forexample, for a UE having SNPN1 as its home SNPN, eSNPN1 may have higherpriority than eSNPN2. This may be especially useful when multiple eSNPNsoverlap in certain deployments.

As noted above, the list of eSNPNs may be broadcast by the network in anSIB. However, when the list of eSNPNs is too large with too manymultiple SNPNs, the SIB may become too large, and it may be preferablenot to transmit a relatively large broadcast message. Therefore,according to some aspects, the list of eSNPNs may be transmitted to theUE as part of a NAS registration accept message. In such a case, theeSNPN list may be transmitted by the (radio access) network to the UE inthe registration accept message in response to a NAS registrationrequest. In some aspects, the registration accept message may be aunicast message targeting (or intended for) a specific UE as opposed tobeing transmitted as a broadcast message, thus reducing load on thenetwork.

Roaming eSNPN

As previously discussed, multiple NPNs or SNPNs may be associated withor correspond to a single entity or enterprise, with those multipledifferent NPNs or SNPNs deployed at a location or locations and/orregion(s) identified by the same PLMN ID. Additionally, for a givenenterprise (e.g. a corporate entity or other enterprise), respectivecorresponding SNPNs may also be deployed in multiple locations, regions,and/or countries identified by different respective PLMN IDs. The UEsassociated with that enterprise may be expected to have the ability toconnect to those SNPNs seamlessly. The SNPN may again bedefined/indicated as [PLMN ID+NID]. However, in this case the PLMN IDsmay differ. For example, in case of different countries the PLMN ID isbased on the mobile country code (MCC), and the PLMN ID may thus bedifferent in (or for) each different location/region/country. Inaddition, the NID identifying the SNPN may be the same in alllocation/regions/countries, as it indicates the specific entity orenterprise as opposed to indicating a specific local SNPN. For example,assuming the UE is configured to camp (remain connected) on the SNPNcorresponding to enterprise A in a first location/region/country, whenthe UE travels to a different, second location/region/country and scansfor the SNPN (for enterprise A), there is a PLMN ID mismatch and the UEcannot gain access to the SNPN in the second location/region/country.

In order to allow access to the different SNPNs in a differentlocation/region/country, a roaming eSNPN (ReSNPN) may be introduced.Similar to the example provided above for eSNPNs based on different NIDsfor different local SNPNs, a list of ReSNPNs may be provided to the UEto allow the UE to access the SNPN corresponding to the enterprise ineach location/region/country where SNPNs for that enterprise have beendeployed. As an example, enterprise A may be identified by “NID”. Thehome SNPN of enterprise A may be in a first location identified by PLMNID1 in a country local to the UE. SNPNs of enterprise A in differentlocations/regions/countries may be accessed by the UE based as follows,where PLMN IDx (for x=1, 2, 3 for the local country, and x=4, 5, 6 forforeign countries) represents the PLMN ID for the correspondinglocations/regions/countries:

SNPN1=PLMN ID1+NID

SNPN2 (eSNPN1)=PLMN ID2+NID

SNPN3 (eSNPN2)=PLMN ID3+NID

SNPN4 (ReSNPN1)=PLMN ID4+NID

SNPN5 (ReSNPN2)=PLMN ID5+NID

SNPN6 (ReSNPN3)=PLMN ID6+NID

The network in which the home SNPN (SNPN1) is deployed may broadcast thelist of eSNPNs and ReSNPNs in the SIB. Upon receiving this SIB, the UEmay save the list of eSNPNs and ReSNPNs in a local database, and utilizethe information when camping on other SNPNs either on a local network orglobal network. It should be noted that the above methodology is equallyapplicable to public integrated NPNs, not only SNPNs. In addition, asthe SNPN in the different countries belongs to the same enterprise (e.g.enterprise A), human readable enterprise names may also be the same indifferent countries. Accordingly, in some embodiments, human readablenames may also be broadcast in the SIB, e.g. with an ASCII characterstring or string encoded in UTF-8 format representing the enterprisename to be broadcast.

According to some aspects, the enterprise may be using a global uniqueNID for each different SNPN deployed in different countries, with theSNPN in each country having a unique NID (e.g. in contrast to enterpriseA being identified by the same NID in all countries as indicated above).In such embodiments, to identify the enterprise uniquely acrossdifferent countries and display the SNPN network name in a humanreadable format, an additional “EnID” field may be introduced in theSIB. Accordingly, the SNPN may then be defined as SNPN=PLMN ID+NID+EnID,where EnID stands for “Enterprise ID”. The EnID is expected to be thesame for all NPNs of a particular enterprise across the globe.

NID Management Function (NMF)

With the size and number of eSNPN lists (and ReSNPN lists) increasing,broadcasting such lists via SIBs may become problematic. For example, anenterprise or organization may setup offices in multiple countries andmay add tie-ins to various different partners/vendors in differentlocations, all of which may potentially be considered eSNPNs. Thus, inorder to support the creation and management of eSNPNs and ReSNPNs, anew network identification management function (NID management functionor NMF in short) may be introduced. The NMF may implement varioustasks/features related to eSNPNs and ReSNPNs. The NMF may be introducedas a core network function, for example in a 5G/NR network architecture(5GC), for maintaining a database of the list of SNPN(s), e.g. NIDlist(s) and/or [NID+PLMN] list(s). The NMF may also maintain theequivalent PLMN list for all the UEs registered in a given SNPN.

FIG. 7 shows a simplified diagram of an exemplary wireless networkarchitecture with an NMF. As shown in FIG. 7, the core network functionsof a wireless network include an Application Function (AF) 702 andAccess and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 708, which may update theNMF 706 by adding and removing eSNPN(s) for a UE or set of UEs.According to some aspects, the NMF may also be updated by the unifieddata management (UDM) function, which is not shown in FIG. 7. Othernetwork functions include a Network Repository Function (NRF) 704, aSession Management Function (SMF) 710, and a User Plane Function (UPF)716. As shown in FIG. 7, UE 712 interfaces with AMF 708 and the radioaccess network (RAN) 714, with UPF 176 providing a link between RAN 714and data network (DN) 718. In some embodiments, when the AMF 708receives a registration request from a UE 712 located in an eSNPN, theAMF 708 may query the NMF 706 to validate the credentials and retrievethe eSNPN list for UE 712. The NMF 706 may accept the query and mapeSNPNs for UE 712. The list of eSNPNs may then be retrieved by AMF 708,which may transmit the eSNPN list to the UE 712 as part of theRegistration Accept (RA) message. In order for the RA message to carrythe eSNPN list, a new “eSNPN” information element (IE) may be added tothe RA message. In some embodiments, the NMF 706 may be implemented asSW in a Unified Data Management (UDM)/User Data Repository (UDR) module.According to some aspects, AF 702 may be a cloud service which may becontrolled by the enterprise entity, e.g. a corporate entity, and maypopulate the NMF database with new eSNPN(s). Overall, the NMF 706 maycreate and maintain the list of eSNPNs and/or ReSNPNs, with AF 702 andAMF 708 having access to the NMF. When AMF 708 transmits theconfiguration update command with the eSNPN IE, it may transmit newlyadded eSNPN(s) with a flag indicating that the included eSNPN(s) are tobe added to an already existing list, or it may transmit the entireeSNPN list.

Exemplary Network Architecture with Single NMF—FIG. 8

FIG. 8 shows a simplified diagram of an exemplary wireless networkarchitecture with a single NMF 802. A first network 806 represents ahome PLMN for a UE 826, while a second network 816 represents an eSNPNfor UE 826. Network 806 operates on RAN 808 while network 816 operateson RAN 818. Each respective network has its own set of networkfunctions, such as AMF (810 and 820, respectively), SMF (812 and 822,respectively), and UPF (814 and 824, respectively). In the architectureof FIG. 8, both networks 806 and 816 use a single NMF 802 accessed by AF804. AMF 810 and AMF 820 may both communicate with NMF 802, for exampleto query NMF 802 to validate the credentials of UE 826 when the UE 826is registering on the network serviced by the corresponding AMF, andretrieve the eSNPN list for UE 826.

Exemplary Network Architecture with Multiple NMFs—FIG. 9

FIG. 9 shows a simplified diagram of an exemplary wireless networkarchitecture with multiple NMFs. The network architecture shown in FIG.9 is similar to the architecture shown in FIG. 8, but instead of asingle NMF 802, two NMFs 904 and 906 are used to maintain and manageeSNPN and/or ReSNPN lists. Accordingly, in the architecture of FIG. 9,the two networks 806 and 816 use corresponding respective NMFs 904 and906, both in communication with AF 804. AMF 810 may communicate with NMF904 while AMF 820 may communicate with NMF 906. For example, AMF 820 mayquery NMF 906 to validate the credentials of UE 826 when the UE 826 isregistering on network 816 serviced AMF 820, and retrieve theeSNPN/ReSNPN list for UE 826. Similarly, AMF 810 may query NMF 904 tovalidate the credentials of UE 826 when the UE 826 is registering onnetwork 806 serviced AMF 810, and retrieve the eSNPN/ReSNPN list for UE826.

Exemplary Procedure for Providing an eSNPN/ReSNPN List to a UE—FIG. 10

FIG. 10 shows a simplified flow diagram of an exemplary procedure forupdating a UE with an eSNPN/ReSNPN list, e.g. providing/transmittingsuch a list to a UE. The exemplary procedure may be in reference toFIGS. 7-9 with respect to the use of various core network functions aspreviously described. With the addition of an NMF for mapping andmaintaining eSNPN/ReSNPN lists, those lists may be provided to the UE aspart of the registration process when the UE is registering in (or on)an SNPN. The UE may power up with a User Subscriber Identity Module(USIM) of an SNPN, e.g. a USIM storing credentials and informationcorresponding to or associated with a specific SNPN (1002). Once poweredup, the UE may send a registration request (RR) to the AMF servicing theSNPN, with the RR including the necessary credentials (1004). Afterauthentication of the UE is complete, the AMF may query the NMF toretrieve the list(s) of eSNPNs/ReSNPNs mapped for the UE (1006). The NMFmay forward the list(s) of eSNPNs/ReSNPNs to the AMF, and the AMF mayadd the data (e.g. the list(s)) received from the NMF to the RA messageor a registration reject (RR) message, and transmit the list(s) to theUE as part of the RA message or RR message (1008).

Exemplary Procedure for Adding an SNPN to an eSNPN/ReSNPN List—FIG. 11

FIG. 11 shows a simplified flow diagram of an exemplary procedure foradding an SNPN to an eSNPN/ReSNPN list maintained by an NMF. Again, theexemplary procedure may be in reference to FIGS. 7-9 with respect to theuse of various core network functions as previously described. With theNMF maintaining eSNPN/ReSNPN lists, SNPNs may be added to and deletedfrom the eSNPN/ReSNPN list. Accordingly, for operational reasons, one ormore SNPNs may be added to the eSNPN/ReSNPN list stored in the NMF. TheAF 1108 may instruct (e.g. request) the NMF 1106 to add new SNPN(s) tothe eSNPN/ReSNPN list (1110). The NMF 1106 may acknowledge the requestand add the new SNPN(s) to the eSNPN/ReSNPN list, and send a response toAF 1108 indicative of the list having been updated (1112). The NMF 1106may then notify the AMF 1104 about the update of the eSNPN/ReSNPN list(1114). The AMF 1104 may send a configuration update command to UE 1102,with the command including the entire eSNPN/ReSNPN list or one or moreSNPNs to be added to the eSNPN/ReSNPN list (1116). The UE 1102 mayupdate its eSNPN/ReSNPN list and transmit a configuration updatecomplete message to AMF 1104 (1118).

Exemplary Procedure for Deleting an SNPN from an eSNPN/ReSNPN List—FIG.12

FIG. 12 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary procedure for deleting anSNPN from an eSNPN list maintained by an NMF. Again, the exemplaryprocedure may be in reference to FIGS. 7-9 with respect to the use ofvarious core network functions as previously described. For operationalreasons, one or more SNPNs may be removed from the eSNPN/ReSNPN liststored/maintained in the NMF. The AF 1108 may instruct (e.g. request)the NMF 1106 to delete SNPN(s) from the eSNPN/ReSNPN list (1202). TheNMF 1106 may acknowledge the request and delete the SNPN(s) from theeSNPN/ReSNPN list, and send a response to AF 1108 indicative of the listhaving been updated (1204). The NMF 1106 may then notify the AMF 1104about the update of the eSNPN/ReSNPN list (1214). The AMF 1104 may senda configuration update command to UE 1102, with the command includingthe entire eSNPN/ReSNPN list or one or more SNPNs to be deleted from theeSNPN/ReSNPN list (1216). The UE 1102 may update its eSNPN/ReSNPN listand transmit a configuration update complete message to AMF 1104 (1218).

Exemplary Onboarding Procedure Using an NMF—FIG. 13

Onboarding refers to a process by which a new device gains access to awired or wireless network for the first time. When the UE powers up forthe very first time, it may need to determine which network—e.g. whichSNPN—to connect to (e.g. to camp or remain on), as there may berequirements (e.g. 3GPP requirements) for the UE not to send aregistration request to an SNPN to which the UE has no access. Forexample, the UE may be required not to send a registration request to anSNPN that the UE is not authorized to access and/or may not have thenecessary credentials to access. Eliminating such access attempts savesresources and time, and NMFs may thus be used for more efficient UEonboarding. FIG. 13 shows a simplified flow diagram of an exemplaryonboarding procedure using an NMF. Again, the exemplary procedure may bein reference to FIGS. 7-9 with respect to the use of various corenetwork functions as previously described. For the procedure exemplifiedin FIG. 13, an assumption is made that the UE 1102 has the manufacturercredentials and NMF address internally stored, for example innon-volatile memory within UE 1102, or as part of the UE softwareitself. The UE 1102 may find and select an SNPN via automatic or manualselection, and send an RR to AMF 1104 with the manufacturer credentialsand NMF address (1302). The AMF 1104 may locate the NMF 1106 via theaddress provided by the UE, and may provide the manufacturer credentialsto NMF 1106 in a validation request to validate the subscription of theUE (1304). The NMF 1106 may validate the received credentials andretrieve the matching subscription data, then provide the subscriptiondata and eSNPN/ReSNPN list(s) to the AMF 1104 in a validation response(1306). The AMF 1104 may forward the subscription data and eSNPN/ReSNPNlist(s) to the UE 1102 as part of the RA message or as part of an RRmessage (1308). For example, the, AMF 1104 may send a registrationreject message to the UE 1102 and include the eSNPN/ReSNPN list(s) inthis message, which may cause the UE 1102 to initiate a new registrationprocedure on a “preferred” NPN included in the eSNPN/ReSNPN list(s).This process may be referred to as “Steering of NPN roaming”.

Service Operations Provided by an NMF—FIG. 14

FIG. 14 shows a simplified table 1400 listing exemplary serviceoperations that may be provided by an NMF.

“SNPN Not Allowed” Cause Code

With respect to SNPNs, the current standard defines only two causecodes:

Temporarily not authorized for this SNPN (#74), and

Permanently not authorized for this SNPN (#75).

However, there may be situations when access to a specific SNPN may beprohibited (not allowed) until further notice, at which time access maybe allowed/provided to that specific SNPN. For example, an entity orenterprise may have an SNPN1 for all employees and an SNPN2 for projectswhich only selected employees are allowed to access. A new employee mayjoin the entity/enterprise and receive access to SNPN1 but not to SNPN2,though access to SNPN2 may be granted to the new employee at a laterpoint in time. For such cases, a new cause code, “SNPN not allowed” maybe introduced. Upon receiving this cause code, the UE may delete thelist of eSNPNs/ReSNPNs, reset the registration attempt counter, andstore the SNPN identity in the database. Accordingly, not only is accessto the specific SNPN not authorized, the eSNPN/ReSNPN list is alsoflushed. Once the UE gains access to SNPN2, AMF may update the UE via aconfiguration update command that may include information regarding theupdated list of eSNPN/ReSNPNs

Identification of SNPN Specific Cell

Radio access network (RAN) support may be provided for identifying SNPNspecific cells. Cells with SNPN-only access may need to broadcast a‘reserved-for-SNPN-use’ field in an SIB message to help prevent regularPLMN users from camping on SNPN-only access cells. This may beespecially important in areas which have overlaying PLMN and SNPN accesscells.

Integrated Non-Public Networks

NPNs may be implemented as network slices of PLMNs. Network slicingrefers to the separation of multiple virtual networks that operate onthe same physical hardware for different applications, services orpurposes. Network slicing separates the control plane from the userplane to move user plane functionality towards the network edge. Eachnetwork slice may have its own architecture, provisioning management andsecurity that supports a particular use case. With low latencyconnection and adequate bandwidth, the prioritization of different tasksmay be performed on a software level division of the network. The slicesthat occupy a single physical network are separated, meaning traffic andsecurity breaches from one slice cannot interfere with another slice.Identification of a network slice is performed via the Single NetworkSlice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI). The NSSAI is acollection of S-NSSAIs. For example, 3GPP presently allows up to eight(8) S-NSSAIs in the Requested and Allowed NSSAI sent in signalingmessages between the UE and the network (e.g. between the UE and a basestation in the network). This means a single UE may be served by at mosteight network slices at a time. The S-NSSAI signaled by the UE to thenetwork assists the network in selecting a particular network sliceinstance. An S-NSSAI typically includes:

-   -   A slice/service type (SST), which refers to the expected network        slice behavior in terms of features and services, and    -   A slice differentiator (SD), which represents optional        information that complements the SST to differentiate amongst        multiple network slices of the same SST.        The S-NSSAI may be associated with a PLMN (e.g., PLMN ID) and        have network-specific values or standard values. An S-NSSAI may        be used by the UE to access the network in the PLMN with which        the S-NSSAI is associated.

Presently, a network slice is configured during the registrationprocedure, and is applicable to the entire PLMN. However, certainslicing features may only be available or authorized in some specificlocations. When a network slice is allowed, the UE may assume that theslice is allowed for all UEs accessing the PLMN. However, an NPN may notbe intended to be accessible to all UEs on the PLMN. Therefore, theconcept of network slice support per registration/tracking area may beintroduced, with a corresponding procedure for negotiation of a networkslice per registration area and/or tracking area. During every mobilityregistration update, the UE and network may renegotiate the list ofallowed NSSAIs. For example, every time the UE moves into a newregistration/tracking area, the UE and network may renegotiate the listof allowed NSSAIs. The network may thus indicate to the UE whether ornot the UE is allowed to access that network slice. Additionally oralternatively, the network (e.g. base station in the network) may alsoproactively update the UE with an “allowed NSSAI” indication via UEconfiguration update command at any time.

Public Integrated NPN Roaming

Some additional issues may need to be considered when an NPN isimplemented as a network slice instance (NSI). For example, anenterprise or entity may have a public integrated NPN in each of itsgeographical locations. A UE associated with a home NPN in one locationmay also need to seamlessly camp on (or remain connected to) the networkin a different location and access the NSI corresponding to the NPN.While there are currently provisions for mapping the home PLMN (HPLMN),no such mapping exists for NPN(s). According to some aspects, in orderto seamlessly access the NSI corresponding to the NPN as describedabove, the UE may send a packet data unit (PDU) session establishmentrequest with an S-NSSAI (containing the NPN NSI), and may also providean HPLMN mapping for this S-NSSAI. This may be achieved through theintroduction of new values to the S-NSSAI IE. Accordingly, the followingnew parameters (or parameter values) may be added to the S-NSSAI IE forNPN:

SST and mapped NPN SST,

SST, SD and mapped NPN SST,

SST, SD, mapped NPN SST and mapped NPN SD,

SST and mapped SNPN SST,

SST, SD and mapped SNPN SST, and

SST, SD, mapped SNPN SST and mapped SNPN SD.

The new values may be introduced by assigning some of the previouslyreserved values to the parameters listed above. That is, previouslyreserved values may be used as different values respectivelycorresponding to the newly introduced parameters listed above.

There are presently no provisions for indicating whether a particularS-NSSAI or a group of S-NSSAIs are associated with an NPN or a PLMN orboth. In order to make such provisions, an SD may be required for NPN.For example a hospital enterprise may contain an NPN with multipleslices or multiple instances of an S-NSSAI, with each slice serving aspecific characteristic (e.g., operations, finance, doctor logins, etc.)The UE may receive UE route selection policy (URSP) rules with DNN, androute and traffic descriptor details about how to access each NSI ofthis NPN, along with the indication regarding the association of theS-NSSAI (NPN, PLMN, or both). This may help the UE identify whether theNSI is for serving the PLMN or the NPN or both.

UE Implementations

In some embodiments, NPN access may be implemented in a UE having adual-SIM setup with independent subscription. For example, SIM1 may be asubscription to a normal/regular 3GPP PLMN access (e.g. a major serviceprovider), while SIM2 may be configured for SNPN access. A UE supportingsimultaneous connectivity to an SNPN and a PLMN may perform networkselection as applicable for gaining access to the SNPN network and thePLMN network, respectively. Whether the UE uses SNPN or PLMN for itsservices may be implementation dependent. For example, certainapplications executing on (or executed by) the UE may be restricted touse only the PLMN, while other apps (e.g. internal or enterprise apps)may be restricted to use only the SNPN. The mapping of applications tothe respective networks the applications are instructed to or expectedto use may be internal in the device, e.g. with the applications mappedto respective corresponding SIMs. For a UE capable of simultaneouslyconnecting to an SNPN and a PLMN, the setting for operation in SNPNaccess mode may be applied only to the Uu interface for connection tothe SNPN. Details of the activation and deactivation of SNPN access modemay be implemented as desired for each UE. Accordingly, when invokingcertain applications, the UE may use its SIM1 connection (e.g. byrelying on credentials/data stored in SIM1), and when invokingapplications related to the SNPN (e.g. enterprise applications), the UEmay use its SIM2 connection (e.g. by relying on credentials/data storedin SIM2). The UE may need to determine if the SNPN allows access to SNSapps but is tracked by the private network. Use of SIM1 may benon-tracked.

Regarding the configuration and subscription information of the UE, if aUE is not set to operate in SNPN access mode, even if it isSNPN-enabled, the UE may not select and register with SNPNs. A UE notset to operate in SNPN access mode may perform PLMN selection proceduresas currently defined (e.g. in the 3GPP standard; clause 4.4. of TS23.122). For example, in case an SNPN is used for office (business)communications while a PLMN is used for personal communications, theSNPN may be automatically activated/deactivated over the PLMN asfollows. Depending on the geographical location or registration area ofthe SNPN, if the UE is relocated to the office, SNPN access may getenabled/activated and PLMN access may be disabled/deactivated, otherwiseSNPN access may be disabled/deactivated and PLMN access may beenabled/activated. The enabling/disabling or activating/deactivating maybe configured based on timing considerations. For example, an officetime period (e.g. 9 am-6 pm) may be designated, and if the UE is in anSNPN registration area during that time period, SNPN access may be(automatically) activated and PLMN access may be (automatically)deactivated. Outside the designated office time period, SNPN access maybe (automatically) deactivated and PLMN access may be (automatically)activated.

Network selection in SNPN access mode may be performed as follows. Whenset to operate in SNPN access mode, a UE may not perform normal PLMNselection procedures as currently defined (e.g. in the current 3GPPstandard; clause 4.4. of TS 23.122). UEs operating in SNPN access modemay read the available PLMN IDs and list of available NIDs from thebroadcast system information, and take them into account during networkselection. For automatic network selection, the UE may select andattempt to register with the available SNPN identified by a PLMN ID andNID for which the UE has SUPI and credentials. If multiple SNPNs—forwhich the UE has respective SUPI and credentials—are available, thepriority order for selecting and attempting to register with SNPNs maybe based on UE implementation. For example, a priority list may bemaintained based on visit frequency (how often an SNPN isvisited/accessed), broadcast order in SIB (e.g. top level in SIBbroadcast order is highest priority and lowest level is lowestpriority), and/or SUPI. For example, the priority order for SNPN access,when the UE has credentials for multiple SNPNs, may depend on howfrequently a respective SNPN is visited within a day/week/month, theorder in which the SNPNs are broadcast in the SIB, and/or the SUPI(PLMN+NID; e.g. a home country may have highest priority). Alternately,the UE may feature a user input (UI) for a user to dynamically updatethe priority of the SNPNs and update the list.

For example, an enterprise may maintain multiple SNPNs for each specificproject. An employee may have the main enterprise SNPN as the highestpriority SNPN. Once the employee gets disclosure for a specific project,the corresponding SNPN (e.g. the SNPN corresponding to the project) maybe added to the subscription list for the employee. The UE may also havethe capability to set the priority of SNPNs.

It is well understood that the use of personally identifiableinformation should follow privacy policies and practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular,personally identifiable information data should be managed and handledso as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use,and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

Embodiments of the present invention may be realized in any of variousforms. For example, in some embodiments, the present invention may berealized as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable memorymedium, or a computer system. In other embodiments, the presentinvention may be realized using one or more custom-designed hardwaredevices such as ASICs. In other embodiments, the present invention maybe realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such asFPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium(e.g., a non-transitory memory element) may be configured so that itstores program instructions and/or data, where the program instructions,if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform amethod, e.g., any of a method embodiments described herein, or, anycombination of the method embodiments described herein, or, any subsetof any of the method embodiments described herein, or, any combinationof such subsets.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE) may be configured to includea processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium (or memoryelement), where the memory medium stores program instructions, where theprocessor is configured to read and execute the program instructionsfrom the memory medium, where the program instructions are executable toimplement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or,any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, anysubset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, anycombination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any ofvarious forms.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

1. A method comprising: obtaining, by a device, a list of equivalentstandalone non-public networks (eSNPNs) corresponding to a home SNPN ofthe device; and accessing, by the device, a second SNPN which is at alocation different from a location of the home SNPN and/or which is at ahigher priority than a third SNPN, in response to: identifying thesecond SNPN; and the list including the second SNPN as an eSNPNcorresponding to the home SNPN of the device.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising receiving the list from one or more of: an access andmobility function (AMF); or a radio access network.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising, maintaining and managing the list by anetwork identifier management function.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising: sending, by the device, a registration request to afirst SNPN; and receiving the list at least in response to theregistration request.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprisingreceiving the list in one of: a registration accept message; or aregistration reject message.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein theregistration request includes credentials of the device and the addressof a network identifier management function (NMF); the method furthercomprising: receiving, by an access and mobility function (AMF) servingthe second SNPN, the registration request; locating, by the AMF, the NMFvia the address; and providing the credentials to the NMF in avalidation request.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:validating, by the NMF, a subscription of the device; retrieving, by theNMF, matching subscription data corresponding to the device; andproviding, by the NMF, the subscription data and the list to the AMF ina validation response.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:forwarding, by the AMF, the subscription data and the list to the UE inone of: a registration accept message; or a registration reject message.9. An apparatus of a user equipment, the apparatus comprising: aprocessor configured to perform operations comprising: obtaining a listof equivalent standalone non-public networks (eSNPNs) corresponding to ahome SNPN of a device; and accessing a second SNPN which is at alocation different from a location of the home SNPN and/or which is at ahigher priority than a third SNPN, in response to: identifying thesecond SNPN; and the list including the second SNPN as an eSNPNcorresponding to the home SNPN of the device.
 10. The apparatus of claim9, the operations further comprising receiving the list from one or moreof: an access and mobility function (AMF); or a radio access network.11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the list originates from a networkidentifier management function.
 12. The apparatus of claim 9, theoperations further comprising: sending a registration request to a firstSNPN; and receiving the list at least in response to the registrationrequest.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12, the operations furthercomprising receiving the list in one of: a registration accept message;or a registration reject message.
 14. The apparatus of claim 12, whereinthe registration request includes credentials of the device and theaddress of a network identifier management function (NMF) that maintainsand manages the list.
 15. A device comprising: radio circuitryconfigured to enable wireless communications of the device; and aprocessor communicatively coupled to the radio circuitry and configuredto perform operations comprising: obtaining a list of equivalentstandalone non-public networks (eSNPNs) corresponding to a home SNPN ofthe device; and accessing a second SNPN which is at a location differentfrom a location of the home SNPN and/or which is at a higher prioritythan a third SNPN, in response to: identifying the second SNPN; and thelist including the second SNPN as an eSNPN corresponding to the homeSNPN of the device.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15, the operationsfurther comprising receiving the list from one or more of: an access andmobility function (AMF); or a radio access network.
 17. The apparatus ofclaim 15, wherein the list originates from a network identifiermanagement function.
 18. The apparatus of claim 15, the operationsfurther comprising: sending a registration request to a first SNPN; andreceiving the list at least in response to the registration request. 19.The apparatus of claim 18, the operations further comprising receivingthe list in one of: a registration accept message; or a registrationreject message.
 20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the registrationrequest includes credentials of the device and the address of a networkidentifier management function (NMF) that maintains and manages thelist.